What are we reading?

Started by Martok, March 05, 2012, 01:13:59 PM

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Bison

Quote from: Gusington on January 13, 2013, 08:29:24 PM
How many pages is it?

I think the copy I have is around 1000 to 1200 pages of complete crap.  Details upon detail and retelling the same crap over and over again.  I want to visit Melville's grave just to yell at him a little bit.

Longdan

#511
There was this whale.  There was this guy obsessed with killing it.  There was a megaton of symbolism.
A bunch of shit happened and the whale smashed the Pequod boat with the guy
and some others in it.  They all died except Ishmael and the whale.  The whale swam away.
Moby Dick is a Sperm whale so it is porn.  Rachael from friends rescues Ishmael
so he doesn't die 'til after the story is over.  The End.
Now you can skip those classes.
digni enim sunt interdicunt

Martok

Quote from: Longdan on January 13, 2013, 09:43:47 PM
There was this whale.  There was this guy obsessed with killing it.  There was a megaton of symbolism.
A bunch of shit happened and the whale smashed the Pequod boat with the guy
and some others in it.  They all died except Ishmael and the whale.  The whale swam away.
Moby Dick is a Sperm whale so it is porn.  Rachael from friends rescues Ishmael
so he doesn't die 'til after the story is over.  The End.
Now you can skip those classes.
Sadly, this is an accurate summation of the book.  Even more sadly, that's all one really needs to know. 

I *did* read the bloody thing, and I devoutly wish I hadn't.  That was two months of my life that I will never get back. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Barthheart

Anybody try Last of the Mohicans? Tried three times and just could not stand it. :P

Bison

Quote from: Barthheart on January 14, 2013, 07:49:01 AM
Anybody try Last of the Mohicans? Tried three times and just could not stand it. :P

It's on my Kindle and subsequently on the list.

JasonPratt

Quote from: Barthheart on January 14, 2013, 07:49:01 AM
Anybody try Last of the Mohicans? Tried three times and just could not stand it. :P

My understanding is that just about any film version is better than the book, so with the Daniel Day Lewis version in my library I don't care to risk my time testing out that impression.

Mark Twain wrote an utterly SCATHING epic critical takedown of Fennimore's series once, though. I read that every few years or so.  ;D
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Martok

#516
Quote from: Barthheart on January 14, 2013, 07:49:01 AM
Anybody try Last of the Mohicans? Tried three times and just could not stand it. :P
Quote from: Bison on January 14, 2013, 07:55:36 AM
Quote from: Barthheart on January 14, 2013, 07:49:01 AM
Anybody try Last of the Mohicans? Tried three times and just could not stand it. :P

It's on my Kindle and subsequently on the list.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! 


You fools!  Do not shoot that tank!  You'll never be able to get those weeks/months of your life back, I promise you! 

Honest to God, I'd sooner watch the grass grow than read another of Cooper's books.  That man can make anything boring. 





Quote from: JasonPratt on January 14, 2013, 09:10:26 AM
My understanding is that just about any film version is better than the book,
Correct.  If you've already watched the movie (doesn't matter which one), then there's no reason to read the book.  Ever. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

undercovergeek

there must be an exception to the film/book rule

Martok

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 14, 2013, 10:13:17 AM
there must be an exception to the film/book rule
There is indeed.  James Fenimore Cooper's novels are but one example. 


I find Stephen King is another, at least when it comes to films based on his "short" stories.  (I can't comment on his other stuff, as I'm not a horror fan.)  I own The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Stand By Me on DVD; I've also read the novellas on which they're based.  In every case, it turns out I prefer the movie. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

undercovergeek

Quote from: Martok on January 14, 2013, 10:21:39 AM
Quote from: undercovergeek on January 14, 2013, 10:13:17 AM
there must be an exception to the film/book rule
There is indeed.  James Fenimore Cooper's novels are but one example. 


I find Stephen King is another, at least when it comes to films based on his "short" stories.  (I can't comment on his other stuff, as I'm not a horror fan.)  I own The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Stand By Me on DVD; I've also read the novellas on which they're based.  In every case, it turns out I prefer the movie.

my dad and i stayed up til 2am once after we'd both read Christine - book = great (well, i thought so then), film = pants, total pants

On that subject, ive never understood why directors/story writers change details from the book that seem so inconsequential - fine you could make the film too long or end up down a dead end part of the story but simple facts

Arctic Blast

Quote from: Barthheart on January 14, 2013, 07:49:01 AM
Anybody try Last of the Mohicans? Tried three times and just could not stand it. :P

I've read it but damn was it a slog. Oof. Not even so much the writing itself but the style...the way the written word has changed since the 1700's when that bad boy was written is pretty startling.


Silent Disapproval Robot

Quote from: Martok on January 14, 2013, 10:07:42 AM



You fools!  Do not shoot that tank!  You'll never be able to get those weeks/months of your life back, I promise you! 

Honest to God, I'd sooner watch the grass grow than read another of Cooper's books.  That man can make anything boring. 



His non-fiction works on naval warfare are actually pretty interesting to read.

Longdan

Between the florid prose and stuff the story goes like this:
French and their Indians are bad.  English are kinda dumb dicks
with cute daughters.  One American is smarter and craftier than
Batman and he owns a couple of Good Indians (soon to be extinct).
They all fight in a freakin overload of adverbs and adjectives and sh*t flying
all over and the cute chix get kidnapped by the Bad French Influenced Indians
who run away.  Nancy*, the smart American guy chases them all over.
They catch them and the bad Indians shank the one chic who then dies from it.
The young Good Indian gets caught up in some lurid prose and offs himself.
There is no Cialis and the other Good Indian is old so that's it for the good ones
game over.    *better than Natty Bummpo
The other chic gets rescued.
digni enim sunt interdicunt

Martok

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 14, 2013, 11:06:55 AM
Quote from: Martok on January 14, 2013, 10:21:39 AM
Quote from: undercovergeek on January 14, 2013, 10:13:17 AM
there must be an exception to the film/book rule
There is indeed.  James Fenimore Cooper's novels are but one example. 


I find Stephen King is another, at least when it comes to films based on his "short" stories.  (I can't comment on his other stuff, as I'm not a horror fan.)  I own The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Stand By Me on DVD; I've also read the novellas on which they're based.  In every case, it turns out I prefer the movie.

my dad and i stayed up til 2am once after we'd both read Christine - book = great (well, i thought so then), film = pants, total pants

On that subject, ive never understood why directors/story writers change details from the book that seem so inconsequential - fine you could make the film too long or end up down a dead end part of the story but simple facts
By the by, I should say I *did* like all three published stories -- "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", "The Green Mile", & "The Body" (off of which Stand By Me is based).  They are good reads; I just happen to like their respective film versions more. 





Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 14, 2013, 06:20:22 PM
Quote from: Martok on January 14, 2013, 10:07:42 AM



You fools!  Do not shoot that tank!  You'll never be able to get those weeks/months of your life back, I promise you! 

Honest to God, I'd sooner watch the grass grow than read another of Cooper's books.  That man can make anything boring. 



His non-fiction works on naval warfare are actually pretty interesting to read.
A pity he didn't stick with non-fiction then. 

I genuinely feel sorry for any high school/college student who has to read one of his novels as an assignment.  I ground my way through The Pathfinder (how/why I chose that for my main book report that semester I'll never know), and got about two chapters into The Last of the Mohicans before I abruptly said "screw this!" and quit.  I think it was the first book I ever didn't finish. 





Quote from: Longdan on January 14, 2013, 06:35:12 PM
Between the florid prose and stuff the story goes like this:
French and their Indians are bad.  English are kinda dumb dicks
with cute daughters.  One American is smarter and craftier than
Batman and he owns a couple of Good Indians (soon to be extinct).
They all fight in a freakin overload of adverbs and adjectives and sh*t flying
all over and the cute chix get kidnapped by the Bad French Influenced Indians
who run away.  Nancy*, the smart American guy chases them all over.
They catch them and the bad Indians shank the one chic who then dies from it.
The young Good Indian gets caught up in some lurid prose and offs himself.
There is no Cialis and the other Good Indian is old so that's it for the good ones
game over.    *better than Natty Bummpo
The other chic gets rescued.
Yep.  That's pretty much it. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

OJsDad

Quote from: Longdan on January 08, 2013, 07:12:48 PM
How was the spelling?

Much better than mine without a spellchecker
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.